thefinalfrontier 8

Only four percent of the universe is made of materials we sort of understand. So what about that remaining 96%? For the most part we’ve labeled it under two names, dark matter and dark energy. We have no clear idea what these materials are. But now astronomers at the University of St Andrews are attempting to “simplify the dark side of the universe”. They say the two most mysterious constituents in the universe are actually the same thing.

(Image is the future Supernova Acceleration Probe which may help solve of the dark matter/dark energy mystery).

Dr HongSheng Zhao, of the University’s School of Physics and Astronomy, found that the puzzling dark matter and its counterpart dark energy are so closely intertwined that it’s not clear that they’re even two different materials.

A British astrophysicist and Advanced Fellow of the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council, Dr Zhao points out, “Both dark matter and dark energy could be two faces of the same coin.

“As astronomers gain understanding of the subtle effects of dark energy in galaxies in the future, we will solve the mystery of astronomical dark matter at the same time. “

Many astronomers believe that both the universe and galaxies are held together by the gravitational attraction of a huge amount of unseen material. This idea was first noted by the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky in 1933, and now commonly referred to as dark matter.

Dr Zhao reports, "Dark energy has already revealed its presence by masking as dark matter 60 years ago if we accept that dark matter and dark energy are linked phenomena that share a common origin.”